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  1. #46
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Middle Earth
    Posts
    3,997

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    Doc wrote:
    I swear. I know it's ridiculous, but it actually works.
    Then if it's a really long hill, I occasionally switch to:
    this is for your butt, this is for your butt, this is for your butt



    LOL... I think I might adopt this mantra!!!

    Personally, I keep thinking - you did it before, you can do it again - piece of cake... just a bit more...

    So nothing terribly exciting.

    My sister-in-law has a great one... as she climbs each hill she has a running commentary going in her head... Olympics style....
    Something like...

    "and who'd have believed it, she's gonna get the gold. This 39 year old mother of three is going to take the gold for New Zealand... look at the power in her legs... what determination... what a woman!"


    Thanks also to those that have recommended the book "Women who run with wolves". I have never heard of it, but def going to check it out.


  2. #47
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Vernon, British Columbia
    Posts
    2,226
    I *love* the Olympic commentary!!

    doing plank position in kickboxing class is a pretty difficult one...something that definitely needs a soundtrack. one time I just couldn't keep singing the alphabet song in my head, so I blurted out the first thing that came to mind:

    I'm a goddess. you're a goddess. we're all goddesses.

    now I add bits about wearing bikinis. by the pool. drinking gin and tonic

    etc.

    I really have to try that on the next hill!!

    namaste,
    ~T~

  3. #48
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Beaverton, Oregon
    Posts
    27

    Thumbs up Wow-some great stuff here

    All this stuff is TERRIFIC! I needed some of the hill climb mantras so much. I love to ride and the angry face won't ever work for me. I smile like an idiot most of the time! I grin harder in the rain or when I am passing a bunch of cars lined up in rush hour traffic. Something about getting around on my own power just makes me giddy. I just can't help it. "there she goes again --that lunatic on the bike"
    ....but on the climbs...I'm gasping and wondering if I will make it. (I used to just avoid hills) Now, thanks to you all, I know what to do/think/say/sing to keep me going up, up, up!

    I will add a little bit about getting out to ride when thinking we are not really in the mood, it's too wet, cold etc. My daughter (15) often moans about going for a ride -- until we get out there and then she thanks me for dragging her out...because it feels so good! We all need a little nudge now and then to get out the door. I'm thinking of some self talk that sounds a little nike-ish "just ride" might work. Personally, I am getting alot of motivation from this forum, and all of you.
    be happy ride a bike--LK

  4. #49
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Sweetwater, Texas
    Posts
    171
    The other day as I pedaled up a steep incline we call Mount Eskota, which is disguised as an area where the interstate access road rises higher than the interstate you could hear me chanting this:

    I'll sit this hill
    I won't stand
    I'll climb this hill
    better than a man


    I also tend to sing:

    I can do anything you can do but better, I can do anything better than you!

    Of course, these are my new solo chants and I'd never chant them when riding with Ben....where he could hear me!

    Ben chants:

    Are you ok?

    Doing ok hon?

    Drives me nuts! Yes, I'm okay, I'm ahead of you aren't I?! Gotta love him though, he is pushing to buy me a new Specialized Roubaix Pro

    Oh, and if I do ever stand to pedal, I try my hardest to at least count my age, each time a foot goes down is one count. Dang....it was hard turning 40!
    Last edited by KkAllez; 05-19-2005 at 04:03 PM.
    Ever notice that 'what the hell' always seems to be the best decision?

  5. #50
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Sillycon Valley, California
    Posts
    4,872
    I sing to myself - if anyone is familiar with Be Bop Deluxe, it's usually Blazing Apostles or Fair Exchange.

  6. #51
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Portland, Oregon
    Posts
    129
    Cycling hasn't been much different from me than hiking in that respect. I'm competetive and I guess kind of like a guy in my head when I'm doing something tough. So, the bad language comes out...it usually goes something like this: (from yesterday's ride up a moderate hill)

    "Get your f*ing butt up this hill! Oh, that is so BS...you KNOW you can do this hill and you KNOW you can do better than this! Get it up there...get your butt up there, NOW!"

    Works every time.

    Also, I've never ever let it enter my head that I could do anything but bike up a hill....I don't even let the thought enter my head that I could stop. And really, it's true; if you stop, it's way harder to start (going down followed by a sharp turnaround usually ends up with my foot hitting the tire, not good). Since it's not an option in my head, it's just a matter of how fast I can get there and how low I need to go on my gears (usually the lowest one, unfortunately...but oh well...still gettting my butt up there). And, when I get to the top, if I start to think I should rest, I remind myself that it's good to "cool down" and not to stop right away...and that gets me pumping again and I'm off to the next hill. It seems to be working so far.

    Last, I often find myself chanting "for my butt, for my butt, for my butt...need to get into those short-shorts, need to get into those short-shorts....I'm gonna be like 5 lbs lighter when I get home, I swear I am..."

  7. #52
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Middle Earth
    Posts
    3,997
    ROFLMAO!!!

    Lynne... that was exactly how I was talking to myself this morning on my way to work - early winter rain, cold and my legs just didn't want to work... but I was damned if I was gonna let them get the better of me - my brain said "cycle at 30km/hour regardless of the s**te weather" so I swore at my legs til they did...

    Sometimes cursing works a treat - just pleased I was riding on my own! I'm such a 'potty-mouth'!!!


    Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying,
    "I will try again tomorrow".


  8. #53
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Vernon, British Columbia
    Posts
    2,226
    hahaha
    potty mouth works for me too...

    but I do have a new one:
    (this goes with my toaster analogy: "if this body were a toaster I would have sent it back for one that works ages ago!")

    " I am my own warranty "

    heh

    now, that's motivation!!

    cheers and namaste,
    ~T~

  9. #54
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    On my bike
    Posts
    2,505
    Wow, I'm completely opposite. If I were to cuss at or degrade myself, I'd never make it up a hill.
    To train a dog, you must be more interesting than dirt.

    Trek Project One
    Trek FX 7.4 Hybrid

  10. #55
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Middle Earth
    Posts
    3,997
    Dogmamma, I don't curse myself... I knew I could do it! Just my legs didn't believe me

    Mostly I don't become a potty mouth though... mostly I tell myself... you've done it before - this time you can do it better/faster/steadier... or I count down til the top of the hill.

    I've tried my sis-in-laws mantra a few times (the olympic gold I mentioned earlier) but that doesn't really work for me.


    Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying,
    "I will try again tomorrow".


  11. #56
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    MI, but working on So. Cal., USA
    Posts
    142

    Hi there

    Hi there,

    Haven't been here in a while, but I lurk from time to time

    Glad to see this thread still running Yay!

    I have been doing affirmations, but have noticed something different that helps with the riding...Riding with cute guys! LOL I can ride so much faster that way...I don't even notice I am going 19-20 mph, talking the whole time...having fun, checking out the er hem...physiques LOL...then, my hubby finds out and says, 'Why can't you ride that fast with me?' LOL

    Just a theory right now, but maybe they could study this...heh heh...hee hee!

    Bear hugs,
    Lisa

  12. #57
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    San Diego
    Posts
    1,516
    good grief... how did I miss this fantastic thread???

    OK- here's the one I chant on climbs... compliments of Lance Armstrong from "It's Not About the Bike".... PAIN IS TEMPORARY, QUITTING LASTS FOREVER

    Yep, that one works for me every single time... it's sorta become my life motto...
    There is a fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness".

  13. #58
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Oregon
    Posts
    115
    On the flats I like singing the "Moving Right Along" song from the Muppets, or in bad weather, "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life". Uphill I've found that if I remember to shift into an easier gear instead of mashing, I can then just look off the side of the road and watching the scenery while I spin. May not be very quick, but boy I'll glance back up and be like wow, I'm this far along already?! Hey not much more to go! As my legs have gotten stronger, the hills don't seem quite as big either. They look huge till I get to them, but once I'm there, they aren't too bad (except Highland Rd...that's when I just start chanting "I'm not gonna walk, I'm not gonna walk!")

  14. #59
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Western Mass
    Posts
    78
    One of my spinning instructors told me: "we walk dogs, we don't walk our bikes". That's usually stuck in the back of my head! Have to agree with Yogabear about the cute guy influence--it added another 6 miles to MY ride last night! (and he really wasn't that cute)

    ~~AG~~

  15. #60
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Rhode Island
    Posts
    1,365
    I thought I would revive this thread. Great ideas, here!

    I read somewhere once some corny email about there was always someone thinking of you, somewhere. Someone worrying whether you are cold, or sad, or lonely, or happy. Someone cares whether you exist.

    So recently I took to thinking:

    Someone out there gives a s*** whether I make this hill or not.
    Someone is wicked proud of me.

    ("Someone" is really me, but in a parallell universe, maybe?)

    Someone is inspired by what we are all doing, here.

 

 

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